In the game of Chess and in some other games, such as Go and Shogi, the time that it takes a player to make his moves can become a deciding factor in the outcome of the game. It therefore very important that a player resume play as soon as possible after an opponent makes a move. Also sitting at a table for the length of a long chess game can be uncomfortable and needs often arise which require a player to leave a table for a short period, such as going to the bathroom, an important phone call, medication, smoking a cigarette, or even a drink or a snack. It is of course important that the time away from the chess table be as short as possible after the opponent makes his move.
Remote pagers are known. For example see U.S. Pat. 3,937,004 of Natori et al (1976). Natori discloses, "An electronic timepiece, used as a pager watch, has a speaker . . . for reproducing an external call signal intercepted by a receiver for incoming magnetic waves . . . . Sensors responsive to abnormal ambient conditions, e.g. temperature or blood pressure of the wearer, may also operate the speaker. (See the abstract) "Unit 25A comprises a plurality of sensors 25, 26, 27 designed to detect certain abnormal ambient conditions such as gas or radiation;" (See Col. 2, lines 38-40) A "game timing" unit is described at Col. 1, line 50 and line 67 to Col. 2, line 6. "Unit 8A further includes a 100 Hz signal generator 6 and a reset circuit, the latter being controlled by external switches not shown. Circuits 6 and 7 work into changeover circuit 8 for modifying the time display of unit 1A, in a manner not relevant to our present invention, . . . ". It follows the term "game timing unit" is a mistranslation.
Beepers in combination with chess clocks are also known, but these are not remote beepers. They are beepers built into the clock to notify each player when the player's time for playing has expired. These timer-beeper combinations are advertised at http:/www.chessmate.com/chessclocks.html. They are known as the A-19 The "Chronos" Digital Timer, and the A-10 "The Duel Timer". The sound of the beepers in a chess tournament is distracting though helpful. The timers can be digital or analog. Normally two timers are contained in a single case, however the timers could be separate timers.
For a discussion of remote pagers that alert a user by vibration and or light and or sound, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,181 Murray (1997) assigned to Motorola.